The background of the invention will be discussed in two parts:
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic games, and more particularly to an electronic game having illuminatable segments viewable by the operator of the game.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the introduction of microprocessor technology, electronic games utilizing microprocessors have become increasingly popular. Such electronic games may be in the form of handheld electronic games with one or more buttons manually operable by an operator with the game being depicted in a display area. Such display areas usually take the form of a playing field which is imprinted on a colored transparent plastic surface. Beneath this surface there are a plurality of illuminatable segments such as light emitting diodes. The segments of a light emitting diode array are generally rectangular or square and the display surface as viewed by the operator displays rectangles or squares as the controllable playing pieces or indicia. The illuminated segments viewed by the operator may be operator controlled or microprocessor controlled but in either event, the indicia so viewed by the operator generally conforms to the shape of the segments, the illumination of which is controlled by the microprocessor.
With segmented displays, the light emitting diode segments are usually formed or affixed to a substrate which is generally a printed circuit board with the diode segments positioned to provide the array as desired. For some game applications, it may be desirable to have larger segments or segments of a configuration different from the conventional rectangular or square segments. However, for such applications the cost of the light emitting diode array increases correspondingly or requires custom engineering, design and fabrication.
One attempt to enlarge the visual appearance on the display surface of rectangular illuminatable segments has been made in electronic games produced by Bandai Co. Ltd. of Japan. In order to enlarge the visual appearance in such games made by Bandai, each segment is positioned at the center of a reflector element, the reflector element being similar in principal to that found in a conventional battery-operated flashlight with the exception that the Bandai reflector element is rectangular to conform to the rectangular nature of the light emitting diode segment. The visual appearance on the display surface is thus an enlarged rectangle.
Light guides or light pipes have been used in different applications for directing light from a light source to an ultimate viewing area. Such uses are shown and described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,420,949; 3,603,723; and 4,076,378. Such uses include message character display, color television cameras and fiber optic arrays in each of these patents respectively.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved electronic game display apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved electronic game having illuminatable segments of rectangular or square configuration viewed by the operator at a display surface as an object different in shape from the illuminatable source.